Spotify primed for Australian launch

Music-streaming service Spotify is set to make an announcement next week on its Australian launch, having already appointed its first local employee and partnering with a Brisbane start-up.

Spotify was founded in Sweden by Daniel Ek, former chief technology officer of kids’ browser game Stardoll, and Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of internet marketing company TradeDoubler.

The UK-based company, which launched in 2006, offers streaming of selected music from record labels including Sony, EMI and Warner Music Group.

In February 2010, Spotify received a small investment from The Founder Fund, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm led by Facebook founding president Sean Parker.

In November last year, Spotify appointed former Google executive Kate Vale as its first Australian employee, after reportedly securing an additional $100 million in funding in June.

Spotify spokesperson Sally Whatley told StartupSmart the company would assemble a team for Vale, but had “no further information regarding timescales for a launch”.

But in December, Spotify struck a partnership with Brisbane start-up We Are Hunted, which provides the top 99 tracks being talked about, blogged, shared and reviewed online each day.

We Are Hunted was chosen as one of 10 partners to work with Spotify on its new App Finder service, along with US music bible Rolling Stone.

It’s understood We Are Hunted will be used by Spotify to offer its customers a way to access new artists, rather than just established bands.

The partnership fuelled rumours that Spotify’s Australian launch was imminent, and those rumours finally appear to be coming true.

Reports suggest Spotify will divulge its plans for Australia early next week.

According to the Australian Financial Review, an industry source said Spotify would be available in Australia “soon”, with several other players also expected to launch during the next quarter.

Spotify is available in 13 countries, with more than 10 million active users worldwide.

The service has agreements with more than 300,000 labels, and adds 20,000 new tracks each day to its collection of more than 15 million tracks.

Compared with the current services available in Australia, Spotify could be the first to launch with a cost-free option.

In other regions, it offers ad-supported free usage, plus two different premium service offerings to remove advertisements, and expand how and where you can use the service.

Spotify also offers deep social integration with Facebook, making it easy to share playlists and songs with friends.